The invention relates to a dummy for practising cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) of a human being, including simulations of the head, lungs and thorax of a human being. The lungs are simulated by a bag, and the thorax has the structure of foam and is made of flexurally elastic material.
Satisfactory mastery of CPR presupposes adequate training. As CPR, that is to say heart massage and artificial respiration, cannot be practised on a healthy human being, dummies have long been known, that is to say simulations at least of the upper body and the head of a human being, on which CPR is learnt and practised. Correct performance of CPR naturally makes a clearer and longer-lasting impression on the person learning or practising CPR, the more the performance of the training dummy, in terms of heart massage and artificial respiration but also in regard to the preparatory procedures for that purpose, approaches the behaviour of the human body. The known dummies of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification (see the prospectus `Resusci Anne` from Laerdal) have for that purpose at least a simulation of the thorax, head and lungs, while a spring means is disposed in the thorax simulation to simulate the compression resistance of the thorax and the lungs simulation is a flat bag which is communicated with a mouth opening of the head simulation. The lungs bag is disposed in the thorax in such a way that, when air is blown into the bag, the bag causes a visible lifting movement of the front side of the thorax. In addition the known dummy includes means to provide that, when effecting mouth-to-mouth respiration, air is blown in against a resistance which corresponds to the respiration resistance of the human lungs, and that furthermore artificial respiration is not possible when the head simulation assumes a position which, in the case of a human being, would result in blockage of the airways and thus ineffective artificial respiration. Furthermore the face simulation is of such a realistic configuration that, when carrying out mouth-to-mouth artificial respiration, the person learning or practising the procedure is obliged to close the nose openings of the face simulation by clamping them shut, as is also required when dealing with artificial respiration for example of an accident casualty.
The known dummies which comply with those requirements are comparatively expensive to produce and therefore costly. Therefore it was and is hitherto the practice for CPR to be learnt and practised under the guidance of expert personnel, for example doctors, in institutes which possess a training dummy of that kind. As correct mastery of CPR however presupposes constant practice, learning success is in many cases lower than is desirable.
In order to remedy that problem, a dummy has already been developed, which requires a very low level of manufacturing expenditure and which is therefore so cheap that it can be acquired even by individuals for the purposes of practising CPR at home (U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,987). That dummy has a simulation of the thorax in the form of a plastic plate which is bent rearwardly at the `shoulders` so that it forms a front wall and a rear wall. Inserted between the front and rear walls is a spring device so that, when carrying out heart massage, the front wall of the dummy can be pressed in against elastic resistance. Fixedly inserted into the `shoulder region` of the plate can be a hollow head simulation of plastic material, which has a mouth opening and, at its lower end, a connection for fixing a lungs bag comprising sheet material.
That known dummy is admittedly very cheap to produce by virtue of the above-indicated construction so that it can be acquired even in the private sector for the purposes of practising CPR but--at any event with the exception of heart massage--it does not fulfil any of the requirements indicated in the opening part of this specification, which are absolutely essential for CPR to be satisfactorily learnt. Thus artificial respiration can be effected in the unchanged attitude of the head of the dummy so that the person learning the procedure may not remember firstly to put the head in the correct posture so that artificial respiration can have any success at all. Furthermore the person practising the procedure does not have any realistic control over the correct extent of respiration because blowing up the lungs bag when effecting artificial respiration cannot result in a visible lifting movement of the thorax simulation.
Furthermore, a dummy which is improved in terms of the specified requirements, for practising CPR, is also already known (DE 42 01 777 A1), in which the thorax simulation, in order to be able to produce it as inexpensively as possible, is in the form of a three-dimensional structure which is cut out of a flat foldable web material, for example corrugated paper or cardboard, along predetermined contour lines, and then folded along predetermined fold lines to provide the three-dimensional structure. It has been found however that although this known dummy is very inexpensive from the material point of view, it requires a not inconsiderable level of expenditure on tooling and equipment for stamping out and folding the three-dimensional structure. Overall therefore the production price of that known dummy cannot be held down to such a low level that it is used to a major extent in the private sector. In addition it has been found that the material used, in regard to tactile sensation, cannot approach that of the human upper body as is desired.
Finally, a dummy for practising CPR is known, which includes a torso comprising a foam material which is provided with a replaceable thorax simulation (U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,609). The torso is stiffened by a skeleton framework of wood and metal and the replaceable thorax simulation comprises an integral foam in which a simulation of the rib cage and the sternum comprising a hard but flexurally resilient plastic material is fixedly embedded. Arranged beneath that thorax simulation is a trachea/lungs simulation in the form of an inflatable bag.
In the known dummy, by virtue of the elasticity of the rib cage and the foam, that thorax simulation affords a deformation behaviour pattern which is similar to the human upper body. However a lift movement of the chest when performing artificial respiration cannot be simulated as the thorax simulation is fitted as a compact unit over the inflatable bag into an opening in the torso. Above all however the configuration of that known practice dummy is extremely expensive and costly so that once again it can only be purchased for group training in institutes or the like. Purchase and use in the private sector however are prohibited because of the necessarily high price.
Therefore the object of the present invention is to provide a dummy for practising CPR whose appearance and behaviour in terms of heart massage and artificial respiration is better adapted to that of the human upper body and which in particular involves such a low level of manufacturing cost and consequently low price that it can also be purchased by private persons for practising CPR at home.